Increasing Returns and Economic Efficiency. The project attempts to increase the international profile of Australian research by extending the analysis of the challenging issues of economic efficiency in the presence of increasing returns. The proposed analysis takes account of both allocational efficiency and organizational efficiency. It will integrate the Dixit-Stiglitz model of the traditional analysis with the Yang-Ng-Shi model of the new framework to provide a more realistic analysis that ....Increasing Returns and Economic Efficiency. The project attempts to increase the international profile of Australian research by extending the analysis of the challenging issues of economic efficiency in the presence of increasing returns. The proposed analysis takes account of both allocational efficiency and organizational efficiency. It will integrate the Dixit-Stiglitz model of the traditional analysis with the Yang-Ng-Shi model of the new framework to provide a more realistic analysis that allows for increasing returns in both home and firm/market production. This conceptual extension constitutes an advance that is of analytical value and will also be relevant for the formulation of public economic policy in the Australian setting and also more generally. Read moreRead less
Econometric estimation and analysis of country, regional and global income distributions. The project will provide valuable information on characteristics of the income distribution for Australia, and the distributions for countries of socio-economic significance to Australia. The findings will enable Australian government and non-government organisations and international agencies to assess the effects of various policies such as those designed to reduce world poverty. The project can help Aust ....Econometric estimation and analysis of country, regional and global income distributions. The project will provide valuable information on characteristics of the income distribution for Australia, and the distributions for countries of socio-economic significance to Australia. The findings will enable Australian government and non-government organisations and international agencies to assess the effects of various policies such as those designed to reduce world poverty. The project can help Australia understand the most immediate needs of countries in the region, information that is useful for formulating Australian policy responses that can alleviate poverty and lead to improved living standards in the region, thereby creating a harmonious and safer environment within the Asia-Pacific region.Read moreRead less
Welfare Economic Issues in the New Classical Economic Framework of Inframarginal Analysis (renewal application). The CIs have developed a framework analysing the classical but largely ignored problems of division of labour. The 2001-2 project extends the framework to examine welfare issues and public policies, including government encouragement of infrastructure, organisational effects of externality-corrective taxes, work ethics and the optimal working week. The proposed extension to this res ....Welfare Economic Issues in the New Classical Economic Framework of Inframarginal Analysis (renewal application). The CIs have developed a framework analysing the classical but largely ignored problems of division of labour. The 2001-2 project extends the framework to examine welfare issues and public policies, including government encouragement of infrastructure, organisational effects of externality-corrective taxes, work ethics and the optimal working week. The proposed extension to this research will address the more fundamental issue of the Pareto optimality of general equilibrium in the new framework and extend the existing analyses to be of more practical relevance with more immediate policy implications.Read moreRead less
Modelling Food Expenditure, Analysing Nutrient Security, Measuring Hunger and Calculating Purchasing Power Parity: Methodological Advances with Policy Applications. The analysis of consumption changes in selected Asian countries will throw light on Australia's trade potential, especially with one of the fastest growing countries.
More informed debate on the role of trade and aid in reducing hunger and poverty.Following the 2000 Millenium summit and the step up of Australian developmental aid, ....Modelling Food Expenditure, Analysing Nutrient Security, Measuring Hunger and Calculating Purchasing Power Parity: Methodological Advances with Policy Applications. The analysis of consumption changes in selected Asian countries will throw light on Australia's trade potential, especially with one of the fastest growing countries.
More informed debate on the role of trade and aid in reducing hunger and poverty.Following the 2000 Millenium summit and the step up of Australian developmental aid, the subject has returned to the centre stage in policy discussions.
The systematic use of unit value information available elsewhere, but currently lacking in ABS data, will help the latter in improving its HES.
Contribute to "understanding our region and the world"(Key Priority Goal in Research Priority 4 of ARC).
Provide data sets for use in Australian RHD dissertations .
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The economics of happiness, public policy, and national success indicators. The project will provide a sound analysis of happiness, taking account of traditional welfare economics and recent advances in happiness studies, including making the analysis more relevant for policy formulation, making happiness measures more comparable interpersonally, intertemporally, and interculturally. A new and more appropriate national success indicator will be devised that takes positive account of some appropr ....The economics of happiness, public policy, and national success indicators. The project will provide a sound analysis of happiness, taking account of traditional welfare economics and recent advances in happiness studies, including making the analysis more relevant for policy formulation, making happiness measures more comparable interpersonally, intertemporally, and interculturally. A new and more appropriate national success indicator will be devised that takes positive account of some appropriate measure of happiness (adjusted happy life-years) and negative account of some measure of per capita external costs. This will encourage people, organizations, and governments to focus on factors that have a more direct bearing on people's happiness.Read moreRead less
Macro and micro level subjective expectations information and economic behaviour. This project examines the importance of economic expectations on the future state of the economy in decision making. It focuses on large life decisions such as going into retirement, paying for a university education and buying a house. The project also assess the extent to which people are able to make these predictions accurately.
Experimental evaluation of YP4 - Is 'joining up' services for homeless and jobless people a net benefit to society? This project will provide evidence on the social costs and benefits of programs that seek to 'join up' delivery of government services - with specific reference to young homeless jobseekers. This knowledge has direct application in future design of government policies on implementing programmes for government payment recipients with multiple sources of disadvantage. Furthermore, th ....Experimental evaluation of YP4 - Is 'joining up' services for homeless and jobless people a net benefit to society? This project will provide evidence on the social costs and benefits of programs that seek to 'join up' delivery of government services - with specific reference to young homeless jobseekers. This knowledge has direct application in future design of government policies on implementing programmes for government payment recipients with multiple sources of disadvantage. Furthermore, the project will provide a 'case study' demonstration of the capacity for not-for-profit organisations to independently undertake policy reform, and to implement that reform in a way that allows rigorous evaluation of its effects. The project will also extend research expertise in the area of program evaluation, particularly as applied in the Australian context.Read moreRead less
Policy-Related Lessons from the Econometric Analysis of Life Satisfaction Data in Australia. Our analyses will provide important information to policy-makers aiming to design policies that improve Australia's economic and social fabric. In particular, we will inform on the response of Australians to major life-events such as unemployment, ill-health or marital dissolution, but also exogenous shocks including drought and terrorism. Major focus will be on differentiating the determinants of life s ....Policy-Related Lessons from the Econometric Analysis of Life Satisfaction Data in Australia. Our analyses will provide important information to policy-makers aiming to design policies that improve Australia's economic and social fabric. In particular, we will inform on the response of Australians to major life-events such as unemployment, ill-health or marital dissolution, but also exogenous shocks including drought and terrorism. Major focus will be on differentiating the determinants of life satisfaction between rural and urban communities in Australia, and investigating the response of these communities to drought conditions. Moreover, we believe that a detailed international comparison using German and UK data will provide unique evidence on the relative quality of life in Australia and the role of culture and institutions. Read moreRead less
The analysis of social networks. This project aims to explore the role of social networks in training policies, education, banks, and political beliefs. Networks are central to many activities and can help address adequate policies such as targeting key players in networks. The project will develop theoretical issues about the design and implementation of network models and policies, present empirical evidence on the importance of network effects in these activities, and determine the key player ....The analysis of social networks. This project aims to explore the role of social networks in training policies, education, banks, and political beliefs. Networks are central to many activities and can help address adequate policies such as targeting key players in networks. The project will develop theoretical issues about the design and implementation of network models and policies, present empirical evidence on the importance of network effects in these activities, and determine the key players in real-world networks. This project could increase education and help the police and financial authorities.Read moreRead less
Bayesian Inference for Welfare Comparisons of Income Inequality and Poverty. The major expected outcome of this research is an array of techniques for making welfare comparisons involving income inequality and poverty within a framework of Bayesian inference. Various applications of the techniques are expected to yield useful information on inequality comparisons over time and space and on changes in the level of poverty. Given that reduction in levels of inequality and poverty is a matter of ma ....Bayesian Inference for Welfare Comparisons of Income Inequality and Poverty. The major expected outcome of this research is an array of techniques for making welfare comparisons involving income inequality and poverty within a framework of Bayesian inference. Various applications of the techniques are expected to yield useful information on inequality comparisons over time and space and on changes in the level of poverty. Given that reduction in levels of inequality and poverty is a matter of major concern, the development of suitable measurement techniques has immense potential for national benefit. In addition, the project will serve as a vehicle for training two PhD students, and hence will contribute to the small pool of highly trained econometricians with expertise in measuring income inequality.Read moreRead less